


A Tale Were I To Unfold

by Thimblerig



Series: The Lion and the Serpent [15]
Category: The Musketeers (2014)
Genre: Dialogue-Only, Gen, Literary Geekery, Plots and Intrigue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-14 08:54:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5737474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thimblerig/pseuds/Thimblerig
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>"You really are a wonderful listener." </em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Tale Were I To Unfold

**Author's Note:**

> Another Kitty-the-Maid story. Also, a bit of a time skip from the Genoa sequence. I promise we'll see one hundred percent more Milady in the next installment.

It might have been a bawdy house downstairs, but their little group had bought a haven of peace and serenity in one of the higher rooms.  In a warm glow of candlelight Aramis stretched out his long legs while Kitty unpicked the seams of an extravagant skirt with grim purpose.  He kept his own hands busy, cleaning and reloading the pistols laid out on their own bit of cloth, oiling the butts, checking the flints, clearing out the barrels.

"I am pretending to be out of town," he informed Kitty gravely.  "Just so you are aware of events as they unfold."

_"I'm turning this panel to hide the last of the stain.  I don't know what you two do with your clothes, it is certain I do not."_

Finally done with his weapons he wiped his hands with exquisite care and set himself at the other end of her sewing. "It is a tale of two princes and a crown.  The eldest, with the family looks - flaming red hair and a distinctive nose - has precedence and a certain amount of charm, but squanders it on drink and frivolity.  Understandable in a younger man, perhaps, but some of _Le Rouge's_ subjects are expressing dissatisfaction with his assumption of the privileges of royalty without the responsibilities of governance.  Meanwhile, the younger brother, a black-avised scoundrel, has gained some following.  He is a child of the morning-gift - legitimate, but not in line for the throne.  And yet, he has been gaining some following in the city.  Burgers like the dour practical type it seems.  Also, I believe _Le Noir_ is secretly a Protestant, which really, Kitty, should make things interesting when his Spanish backers find out.”

_"Stitches as neat as a woman, you have."_

"As it happens, both _Le Rouge_ and _Le Noir_ would find their claim on the crown strengthened if they married their cousin, a princess with bloodlines as ancient and as pure, and also wise, regal, and solicitous of the weal of the commonfolk.  They have both been courting her, without excessive success.  (I worry about all the inbreeding that goes on in royal families, I do.)"

_“Would you pass me the thimble? Thank you.”_

"And this is where it gets _interesting_ , for you see, _Le Rouge_ is not _Le Rouge_ at all, but a ringer, a cunning imposter.  How do we know?  'The lips do not lie,' I am informed.  Meanwhile, Madame has heard tell of a secret castle, in a lake, with a most peculiar chute built from one of the windows, and a _most peculiar captive_ in it."

_“Tchah, this is a terrible match for the thread. In a strong light anyone could tell it isn't the proper shade of red.”_

"Do you know what I think, Kitty?" he said, eyes growing soft. "I think a pox on all three of them.  I think it is time this little country had a ruling queen, a woman of sense and dignity.  A woman crowned with fire."

 _"You speak of the red princess, do you not?  The one we saw in the parade?"_  She waved a hand above her head, copying his gesture.   _"I think you love her, a little.  Your eyes change when you speak of her._

 _"You love the lady, too, because you are very pretty and very stupid.  It does not take gold in the eyes to know that she will hurt you very badly one day. But you have an open heart, and love a lot of people.  Everybody but me."_  Her hand drifted to the smallpox scars at her temple.   _"I am ugly, and I am unloved."_

He read the droop in her face.  "Ah!  Never be ashamed of that, darling Kitty.  Scars belong to survivors, and survivors are beautiful."  He took that hand and lifted it, as if to kiss her fingers, but she snatched it away.   _"Don't tease!"_

"Sorry, sorry," he said, shifting away, his expression chastened.  "That was monstrous rude of me.  Not when you travel under our protection."

_"Oh the good god, you're being gallant again.  Don't you ever get tired?"_

They both turned their heads as a purring moan came through the walls, followed by two cheerful grunts.

Kitty squeezed her eyes shut briefly, then shook her head and sighed. _"I am too used to speaking my mind here.  One day I will return to my kinfolk and tell them the most inappropriate things and they will stare and stare."_  She stared at him sharply. _"Maybe I'll even tell them about you, boyo."_

"You really are a wonderful listener, darling Kitty.  I could tell you anything.  Maybe one day I'll tell you my big secret.

_"You just... wandered in one day, and you were wearing her last henchman's second-best suit and sleeping in his room, cool as a cat with the butter.  Did you kill him? Tchah - never ask a question you don't want the answer to.  The pair of you are terrifying. And yet, I pray for both your blasted souls.  I am a terrible Christian, or possibly a very good one."_

He touched his wrist uncertainly, where a peep of blue showed under the shirt cuff.  "Maybe Madame knows it already?  Hard to tell.  Chancy to risk it."

She touched him on the forearm. _"Tell me another story.  I do not know the words, but you make them sound so pretty."_

"Hm?  More recitations for your delectation?  I think we have gone as far as _De Equi Alendis_ will take us.  Let me think... I seem to have a satire on Lancelot and Guinevere lodged in my memory, in _terza rima_ no less.  Would you like that?  It is a little mean at the edges, I think, but there's love in it."

The night wound on...

**Author's Note:**

> The account of politicking is loosely taken from The Prisoner of Zenda, by Anthony Hope. Seriously, Princess Flavia was the best choice for ruler, and anyone of sense would have backed her instead of treating her like a piece of the regalia. (And she ends up ruling the country a couple of years down the track anyway.) Come to think of it, apart from a few disreputable shenanigans re: kidnapping his feckless older brother, Duke Michael didn't seem that bad a chap.
> 
> De Equi Alendis - a book on choosing, training, and working with warhorses by Xenophon, written around 400BC. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Horsemanship) It was reproduced a great deal - a lot of its advice is applicable today. Something an educated soldier might be familiar with, and Aramis strikes me as educated. Yes, he'd been beguiling poor Kitty's ears with 'how to train a warhorse'. (She didn't mind.)
> 
> terza rima - a rhyme schemed of connected triplets, aba bcb cdc etc. ending with a couplet at the end of each chapter. It works okay for long form verse stories; most famously used for Dante's Inferno. 
> 
> child of the morning-gift - morganatic marriages, taking their name from the traditional morning-after present, were between people of greatly disparate rank, and the children inherited the lesser parents social status.


End file.
